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Ultraman
is the second entry of the Ultra Series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman is a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q, though not technically a sequel or spin-off. The show was produced by the Tsuburaya Productions, and was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) from July 17, 1966 to April 9, 1967, with a total of 39 episodes (40, counting the pre-premiere special that aired on July 10, 1966). Although Ultraman is the first series to feature an Ultra-Crusader, it is actually the second show in the Ultra Series. Ultra Q was the first. In fact, Ultraman opens with the Ultra Q logo exploding into the Ultraman logo. Ultraman ultimately became a major pop culture phenomenon in Japan. The show's success spawned dozens of sequels, spin-offs, imitators, parodies and remakes. Series background Ultraman's central characters were created by Eiji Tsuburaya from Tsuburaya Productions, a pioneer in special effects who was responsible for bringing Godzilla to life in 1954. The show's predecessor was a series called Ultra Q, a black-and-white 28-episode series very much like the original . The Ultraman project had the following working titles/plots: * : This story featured a corporeal space creature with two large eyes, who befriended a reporter named Joji Akita, but the Self Defense Forces, who perceived the alien as a threat, went after them. This was basically the monster version of the British science fiction series (1963), and Woo's personality was also to be comical. The name "Woo" ended up being used for an otherwise unrelated, yeti-like monster, in episode 30 of Ultraman. Later, Tsuburaya Productions would ultimately produce a series dubbed , in January 2006, but this series is very loosely based on the original concept. * , then retitled : The main characters are a defense force, with the same Japanese name as the Science Special Search Party (often dubbed as the "Science Patrol"), but disguised as an art/photography team. One of the members, unknown to anyone (even his teammates), gained the ability to transform into a giant birdlike humanoid monster called Bemlar (not the same Bemlar that Ultraman would fight in Episode # 1 of the actual series), who defends Earth from monsters, aliens and other threats. Unlike Woo, Bemlar was a tough and righteous fighter, and he looked very similar in design to the title monster of the 1967 kaiju film . Allegedly, the plot was scrapped when it was worried audiences might have trouble telling that one monster was good and the other evil. * : The title hero of this project slightly resembled Ultraman as he came to be known, but he looked more demonic and had horns. He came to Earth after his planet was destroyed by aliens from Planet X. (Ultraseven also shared this working title). Both Bemlar and Redman were designed by Toru Narita, who also came up with the final design for Ultraman based on his Redman design, now resembling a less-scary Buck Rogers-style alien being, mixed with a bit of the iconic " ". The characteristic "Color Timer," more familiar to American audiences as the "warning light" on Ultraman's chest, was added at the eleventh hour. Production The series used various monster costumes, known as kaiju in Japan, prior to other series such as and . The principals were played by famous monster suit actor Haruo Nakajima, who performed as the original Godzilla. Another Toho actor, Satoshi "Bin" Furuya, was sought out for the role of Ultraman, because of his tall stature and perfect proportions. In the image from episode 11, "The Ruffian from Outer Space" (right), we see an example confrontation, with Ultraman and the monster Gyango squaring off in a plaza in front of a hi-rise complex which will soon be trampled, and dwarfing the tree line. Nakajima had an outdoor-sports and martial-arts background, and they decided that Ultraman would not seem alien if he was using earth-bound martial arts techniques. So Ultraman's fighting style was a mixture of grappling, Greco-Roman wrestling, and some Japanese martial arts, which evolved during the course of the series. Often costumes of famous monsters like Godzilla (as Jirass/Keyra in "The Mysterious Dinosaur Island") and Baragon would be recycled and altered, sometimes with nothing more than spray paint and often while the actor was still inside. Nakajima quipped once that the staggering gait of some of the monsters he portrayed was due less to his acting than to the fumes he had to endure. Some of the quadrupedal monster costumes could not be shown fully as his legs dragging on the ground would have been exposed, a necessary allowance to maintain balance in the often cumbersome outfits. Also, the expense of repairing the scale cities and landscapes used for battle scenes required economy of movement and meticulous planning. Not all monsters resembled Godzilla or a dinosaur. Others included giant insects (The Blue Stone of Vallarge) or insect like creatures (The Spaceship Rescue Command); carnivorous plants (The Secret of Miloganda), mutated and giant humans or humanoids (My Home is the Earth), aliens, some with a very inhuman appearance (Blast the Invaders), a colorful aquatic monster looking like a cross between a sea turtle and a narwha (The Undersea Science Center), a yeti (Phantom of the Snow Mountains), and even a mobile spherical bio-mechanoid creature from a higher dimension (Passport to Infinity). Plot The series begins when member Shin Hayata is flying his plane and a red sphere of light crashes into his Mini-VTOL. The sphere turns out to be the transport (Travel Sphere) for a giant red-and-silver being who calls himself Ultraman. Feeling remorse for having killed the human, he merges his essence with Hayata to save him. In return, Hayata serves as the human host for this being, and whenever danger threatens, and the resources of the Science Special Search Party are not enough to counter it, he raises and activates a power-object and artifact called a "beta capsule" and transforms to Ultraman to save the day. Characters Ultras SSSP *Toshio Muramatsu *Daisuke Arashi *Mitsuhiro Ide *Akiko Fuji *Isamu Hoshino *Professor Iwamoto Monsters & Aliens * Bemlar * Alien Baltan ** Alien Baltan II ** Alien Baltan "III" * Neronga * Ragon II * Greenmons * Gesura * Antlar * Red King ** Red King II * Chandrah * Magular * Suflan * Pigmon ** Re-Pigmon * Gabora * Jirass * Gyango * Mummy Man * Dodongo * Pestar * Gamakujira * Gavadon * Bullton * Alien Zarab ** Alien Zarab "II" * Banila * Aboras * Hydra * Kemular * Underground People * Telesdon ** Re-Telesdon * Jamila * Gubila * Gigas * Dorako ** Re-Dorako * Gomora * Dada * Goldon * Woo * Keronia * Zambolar * Kemur Man "II" * Alien Mefilas * Skydon * Seabones * Zaragas * Geronimon * Kiyla * Saigo * Alien Zetton * Zetton Arsenal *Beta Capsule *Spider-Shot *Mars 133 *QX Gun *Mad Bazooka *Spark 8 *Monster Translator *Science Patrol Shuriken *Communicator Pin *Jet VTOL *Sub-VTOL *Submarines S16, S21 and S25 *Underground Tank Pelucidar *Science Patrol Car *Supergun Episodes # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Movies # # # # # Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * : , * : (grunts), (1, 39), (15) * : * : (1-19), Suit actors * : * : Theme song * **Lyrics authorship: Kyoichi Azuma **Music composition: Kunio Miyauchi **Performing artist: Misuzu Children's Choral Group Home media In 2006, BCI/Eclipse officially released Ultraman on DVD under license from then rightsholder Chaiyo Productions. These releases featured the original Japanese soundtrack and the English dub. When Navarre folded BCI/Eclipse in December 2008, the series was shuffled over to Navarre's other home video label, . In June 2009, Mill Creek re-released the complete series set on September 29, 2009, in a 4-disc set with the same special features. In Japan, there have been numerous releases in numerous home video formats over the last 25 years (from VHS to DVD) on several labels, including Bandai's various home video divisions, including Bandai Visual. On April 2013, Tsuburaya held a press conference announcing the new Ultra Series show and character, Ultraman Ginga, where they also announced that the original 1966 show will be given an HD remaster treatment in Japan. On July 2013, Tsuburaya released an HD transfer of Ultraman on Blu-ray titled, ''Ultraman HD Remaster 2.0, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Tsuburaya Productions. Tsuburaya released the series on three separate box sets, each containing 13 episodes. The first box set was released on July 10, 2013, the second on October 25, 2013 and the final on January 29, 2014. Adaptations Harvey Comics Entertainment published two short comic book series based on Ultraman in 1993 and 1994. Bandai published the video game PD Ultraman Battle Collection 64 for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. In 2011, a manga adaptation simply titled ULTRAMAN began serialization in Shogakukan's Monthly Hero's magazine. It serves as a sequel to the television series. Malaysian book ban On March 6, 2014, the announced that it had banned the publication of an Ultraman comic book Ultraman: The Ultra Power "due to contents that were detrimental to public order". Social media users later noticed that a page in the book described the character of Ultraman King (from the film Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy) as a god, which in the Malaysian pidgin language Bahasa Rojak is the Arabic word "Allah". The Home Ministry later confirmed that the use of "Allah" was indeed the reason for the ban, claiming that the comparison may "confuse Muslim children and damage their faith". This highlighted the larger ban to prevent non-Muslims in Malaysia from using the word "Allah" despite its common usage in the Malaysian pidgin to refer to any "God", as well as a suit from the over its usage. Notes *Originally, the series was intended to last 52 episodes (a Type-D mask for Ultraman was already crafted for said-run). However, Eiji Tsuburaya nixed the idea so that he could concentrate more on developing new and different productions (which was soon revealed to be Ultraseven). The Type-D mask would then go on to be used and slightly modified for the Ultraman Jack costume. References External links *'' '' at Wikipedia